People

Putting passion into Parkinson's

Being diagnosed with Parkinson's has given Michael J. Fox a new perspective on life, as well as a passion to help find a cure for the degenerative disease.

"I didn't have this passion when my biggest concern was how big my Winnebago was or ... whether or not this movie was going to do as well as the last movie," the actor tells Jane Pauley on "Dateline NBC," which airs Monday.

"It's interesting, because it's a progressive disease. As it gets worse, I get stronger, so it's offset," the former "Spin City" star said. "What doesn't kill me makes me shaky. But you have to accept it first."

Barrymore bashed at Harvard

Actress Drew Barrymore came to Harvard to claim her Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award, but first she had to complete a mission for her old boss Charlie: find the missing pot.

In a nod to her role in the film version of "Charlie's Angels," Barrymore on Thursday helped find the pot and spoof some of her films including "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" and "The Wedding Singer" at the prompting of an off-stage voice, an imitation of Charlie Townsend, the Angels' mysterious boss, who was heard but never seen.

"I feel like a real geek a lot in life. I walk around my house hanging pictures and wondering what I could do better and where my life is going. So thank you very much, this is so cool," she said.

O.J. faces road rage charges

O.J. Simpson surrendered to authorities Friday to face charges that he reached into a man's car and pulled off the driver's glasses during a road-rage argument in December.

Simpson is charged with burglary of a car and misdemeanor battery. The charges carry a combined 16 years behind bars. But State Atty. Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Simpson would probably not serve any time if convicted. "The goal here will be to find some sort of programming or sentence that would involve learning how to control oneself, whether it's on the road or elsewhere," Rundle said. Simpson posted $9,000 bail and was released less than two hours after he walked into a Miami-Dade County jail.

Cosby's son's killer confesses

Saying he wanted to "do the right thing," the man convicted of killing Bill Cosby's only son, Ennis, has written a letter to the California attorney general's office confessing to the crime and asking that his 1998 appeal be dropped.

"It is based on falsehood and deceit. I am guilty and I want to do the right thing," Mikail Markhasev, 22, wrote in the letter.

"More than anything, I want to apologize to the victim's family. It is my duty as a Christian and it's the least I can do after the great wickedness for which I'm responsible. This is way overdue, and although my apology is too late, it's still the right thing to do."

The letter was addressed to California Deputy Atty. Gen. Kyle Brodie, who was handling Markhasev's appeal.